By Grace Chan

On my return flight from sunny California to the Windy City, I sought comfort with the Jazz Station of the inflight entertainment to ease the sun-deprived depression that I am certain would greet me. Amidst jazz icons such as Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald was a contemporary vocalist whose name I was unfamiliar with. With vocal quality which likens Old Blue-eyes himself, Kurt Elling's cover of familiar Jazz classics definitely caught my attention. His range was wide yet seemingly effortless; his phrasing was uniquely emotive, lacking a certain saccharine-ness that often plagues the "Sinata-sound-a-likes" of our generation.

I put his name in my back pocket and he lost himself in the good company of a list of things I "intend" to do.

New Years Day. Resolving to "paint the town red" and explore Chicago for all its worth this year, I logged onto the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's page to see what was going on. Serendipitously, Kurt Elling appeared on the concert line-up. Kurt Elling? Familiar name. Ah, yes. The one that got lost in my to do list.

So I decided to look him up right away. Not only did I find his site KurtElling.com to be packed with good music and information, but I also found out that Kurt is a Chicago local who performs at The Green Mill when he's not touring. How very fun. He fits right in to my New Years Resolution.

The more I poked around on and listened to tracks from his site, the more impressed I was with this musician. He is not only a great voice but also a poet and an innovator: a true jazz artist. Many of his previous albums were packed with experimentations: scat, improvisations, and lyrical ingenuity. "Resolution," from his album Live from Chicago Out Takes is a complete recreation of a Coltrane number, demonstrating a highly experimental Elling while "She's Funny That Way" from his "This Time It's Love" interprets the jazz standard in a unique, yet classic manner. His new album, Flirting with Twilight has much more of that sort of "uniquely classic" rather than the "highly experimental," yet it escapes the clichéd-ness of that melodramatic "lounge feel." That seems to be Kurt Elling's way: takes jazz classics, reinvents it, and places itself in spectrum of a continuing Jazz legacy.

Despite at times unpleasant weather and the lack of incessant sunshine, Chicago has yet another perk that makes California pale in comparison. Its no New York City, but it doesn't have to be. With up and coming greats like Kurt Elling, Sweet Home Chicago has one heck of a "cultural" scene.